Israel destroys 22 structures in West Bank

Israeli forces on Sunday bulldozed through houses and farm structures in the Khirbet ar-Ras al-Ahmar Village, which houses less than 200 Palestinians, the Palestine al-Yawm television channel reported.

The Israelis also destroyed a water pipeline in the area.

The village is situated in the Area C of the West Bank, which is the largest division in the occupied territory as it comprises 60 percent of the land and is under full Israeli military control.

Confrontations also erupted between Palestinian youths and Israeli forces in the nearby city of Jenin last night, which dragged into the morning. It was not immediately clear why the confrontations began.

Separately, Israeli troops arrested 16 Palestinian youths and a recently-released detainee in attacks on Palestinian houses across the occupied territory.

The Israeli forces targeted the Palestinians with teargas canisters, rubber bullets, and sound bombs during the clashes.

In a separate clash, fifty two Palestinians suffered from breathing problems in clashes with Israeli forces, who attacked the al-Quds University’s campus in the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds on Saturday.

In a war in 1967, Israel captured the West Bank and East al-Quds. Since then, Tel Aviv has continued to expand its illegal settlements there. The issue has become a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.

Palestinian killed

Also on Sunday, Al-Aqsa TV reported that a Palestinian was killed by Israeli forces after he allegedly opened fire on an Israeli bus in Jerusalem al-Quds.

Seven occupants of the bus suffered injuries. Israeli media claimed some of the wounded were in criticalconditions

Deadly Saudi airstrike won’t go unanswered: Yemen’s ruling council

“A response to the intruders’ crimes would soothe the soul of the Yemeni people,” Lebanon’s Al Manar TV quoted the council as saying in a statement released on Sunday.

It further urged the Yemeni army and allied Popular Committees to analyze all possible measures that could be taken to retaliate against all Saudi crimes in the Arabian Peninsula states.

The body further called for a mass protest rally in the capital, Sana’a, later on Sunday in a show of anger against Saudi atrocities.

More than 140 people lost their lives and over 525 sustained injuries on Saturday, when the Saudi airstrike hit a community hall in Sana’a, where mourners had gathered.

The hall was seriously damaged, hundreds of body parts were found strewn in and outside the building and nearby cars were mangled by the blast.

The Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah, was quick to deplore the Saudi airstrike, saying it serves the US interests in the region.

In a televised speech on Saturday, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah secretary general, said that it was “expected” from the Riyadh regime to conduct such attack as it has committed several “massacres” in the Arabian Peninsula and neighboring countries.

“We must condemn in the loudest voice this massacre committed today...I tell this [Yemeni] nation they will inevitably be victorious and their blood will win over the sword of the killer and terrorist,” he said.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi strongly denounced the Saudi air raid as a “terrible and inhumane crime.”

He also slammed the silence of international bodies on the Saudi war on Yemen, saying there is no way to resolve the crisis other than a halt in the Saudi aggression and the resumption of talks between warring sides in the country.

In similar remarks, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani deplored the Saudi attack, adding that the Yemeni army and allied Popular Committees would definitely give a response on the battle ground against the Saudi invaders and their allies.

He also described the US government as the “main partner” of the Al Saud in its “genocide” in Yemen as it supplies advanced weaponry to the Riyadh regime as well as the United Arab Emirates.

The White House is fully aware that Saudi Arabia uses US-made weapons in its massacre of Yemeni women and children, but it refuses to limit its arms export to Riyadh.

Additionally, Syria’s Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja’afari called on the global community to adopt real measures aimed at ending the plight of Yemenis instead of “weeping crocodile tears” for the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo.

The United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, said that the world body’s relief mission in the impoverished country was “shocked and outraged” by the deadly assault.

He also called for an immediate probe into the incident and said the international community must exert pressure to ensure civilians are protected in Yemen

“This violence against civilians in Yemen must stop immediately,” McGoldrick added.

UN relief chief Stephen O’Brien also demanded a prompt and “impartial” probe into the incident, saying, “This horrendous and heinous attack displayed an utter disregard for human life.”

‘Murderers can’t escape justice’

Houthis’ spokesman Mohammad Abdulsalam denounced the airstrike as the latest act of “genocide” by the Al Saud kingdom.

“The silence of the United Nations and the international community is the munition of the murderers,” he said, warning, “Those murderers will not escape divine justice.”

Meanwhile, Yemen’s army spokesman Brigadier General Sharaf Luqman vowed a distinctive response to the Saudi strikes from today on.

The intruders, who have failed to score a victory on the battlefield, have hallucinations of making Yemeni forces give up their duties in confronting the invaders, he said.

UN’s Ban demands investigation into Yemen attack

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday called for a swift, independent probe into an airstrike, which left over 140 people dead and more than 525 injured at a funeral in Yemen, demanding the perpetrators face justice.

"The Secretary General condemns the attack on an event hall," said a statement from Ban's office, adding, "Any deliberate attack against civilians is utterly unacceptable."

Stressing that the investigation must be "prompt and impartial,” Ban said, "Those responsible for the attack must be brought to justice.”

Ban's statement however failed to directly blame Saudi Arabia for the carnage.

Pressure mounts on Al Saud

Saudi Arabia has come under mounting international criticism in recent months over the civilian death toll in its aerial campaign against Yemen.

Following Saturday’s carnage White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said that Washington will review its support for the Saudi war on its southern neighbor.

Yemen has seen almost daily military attacks by Saudi Arabia since late March 2015, with internal sources putting the toll from the bloody aggression at about 10,000. The offensive was launched to crush the Houthis and their allies and restore power to the resigned Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

The Houthi Ansarullah fighters took state matters in their own hands after the resignation and escape of Hadi, which threw Yemen into a state of uncertainty and threatened a total security breakdown in the country, where an al-Qaeda affiliate is present.

Vice Presidency: How Tinubu nominated Osinbajo

Nothing strengthens deceit more than silence. And on an occasion like this, one often wonders why some people twist events and history in order to legitimise a mission. While ruminating over why this should be, it is not impossible to embark on introspection by thinking out so many possibilities that politics is replete with. This line of thought is informed by laughable events of the last few days.
The news media have become agog with false story as to how Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo came to be. During the launch of a book, “Muhammadu Buhari: The Challenges of leadership in Nigeria,” a biography on President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Monday, October 3, 2016, Nigerians were fed with half-truths by the author, Prof. John Paden, on how Osinbajo became the Vice-President of the country. I don’t know how the author came about his story, but he totally got it wrong because what he wrote basically is based on falsehood that reeks of deliberate misinformation and mischief.
I know how Asiwaju Bola Tinubu picked Osinbajo because I was part of the process that midwifed his nomination. In mid-December 2014, it was a Saturday morning after President Muhammadu Buhari had been picked by the All Progressives Congress, at the party’s presidential primaries at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos. I received a phone call from Asiwaju to see him that morning. On my way to his house, I discovered that a car at a reasonable distance was that of a former Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Dele Alake, who was, ostensibly, heading towards Asiwaju’s house in Ikoyi. Asiwaju must have called him too for that task that could be explained underneath.
As soon as we arrived, Asiwaju quickly asked us to join him in his car as we headed for a Guest House. At the Guest House, the former APC Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, Osinbajo and one renowned Pastor joined us.
At the meeting, Asiwaju related to us the urgent need to pick a vice-presidential candidate for the APC. He advised that we immediately discard the idea of his being nominated for the vice-presidential slot as it was no longer possible to pick a Muslim-Muslim ticket. This he reasoned made sense if indeed we were to be realistic in our bid to defeat President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 election. He reasoned that what was important and imperative at that time was to look for a good Christian nominee to complement Buhari.
I remember Baba Akande responded to his aversions that he would still have preferred that Asiwaju should be the running mate since it had been done before. Baba Akande was obviously referring to the MKO Abiola/Babagana Kingibe nomination in 1993. Asiwaju responded by distinguishing the political equation then from what was before us at that point in time. He foreclosed that scenario as no longer possible. We all voiced our opinions, and at the end of the day, it was resolved that we had to get a Christian candidate.

It was at this point that Asiwaju reminded us to be fast in coming up with an option because he felt other geographical zones were also jostling for the same position reiterating the need for the South-West to get it as a must. Asiwaju audaciously told us that left for him, and if he were to pick anyone, he would suggest Osinbajo. That Osinbajo, apart from being a brilliant legal luminary, is also a committed progressive, and democrat. And having been married to the late Obafemi Awolowo’s grand-daughter, it would not be a problem selling him to the old political establishment of the South-West for acceptance. He asserted that Alake and myself having served in his cabinet could attest to the great works he did as the Attorney General during his administration as Governor of Lagos State. He also reasoned that the second major factor in favour of Osinbajo was the fact that he was a strong Christian and one that he was already a Pastor at the Redeemed Christian Church of God.
In the long run, Osinbajo’s nomination was well-received by all of us at that meeting and Osinbajo was asked to start detailing with us, further strategy sessions to which he brought out his laptop and we all commenced a brainstorming session. The rest of the discussion was to strategise on how to contain other likely opponents from the South-West zone before proceeding to Abuja to battle other zones in the coming nomination.
The meeting did not finish until about 9.00pm when we returned to Asiwaju’s residence in Bourdillon. By the time we returned to his house, there were about six serving governors already waiting to see him from different parts of Nigeria.
What is particularly sad now is that the book launch of the President was deployed to create a make-believe story that puts the society at a disadvantage of history. One would have thought that now that the progressives, through an uncommon alliance in 2015, created an upset by defeating, for the first time in the country’s history, the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party, it might be taken as given that the role of all active participants in the exercise would be correctly recorded. But surprisingly painful, such an avenue was used to create an historical distortion of facts, more so, coming from an unexpected quarters at this early stage of progressive politics.
If a political adversary had done that, one would not have been disturbed.
It becomes more of a matter of concern when a renowned intellectual writes a book and begins to redefine events in his own way by abashedly evading facts that are bellowing in the public space in order to recreate a world of make-believe for his audience. Sincerely, such an act understandably becomes a matter to ponder seriously.

Chris Jeyibo of Koga Studios is dead

Recent reports reaching Naij.com this moment confirms that owner of popular multipurpose studios and entertainment outfit, Chris Jeyibo otherwise known as Chris Koga is dead.

The CEO of the multimillion naira outfit died in a ghastly automobile crash at about 1:00am this morning. Chris who was on his way from an event in his white Range Rover Evogue crashed into a parked truck around Magodo, Lagos.

Real Madrid emerges the richest football club

Reigning European champions Real Madrid have overtaken Manchester United as the richest football club

– The Spanish giants also toppled Barcelona as their revenue rose by 8% at the end of the financial year

– Revenues from the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo’s merchandise and Champions League success also boosted their finance

Real Madrid have overtaken Manchester United as the richest football club after their revenue went up by 8% at the end of their financial year.

Los Blancos recorded revenues of €620million (£561m) in their accounts for the 2015/16 financial year against United and Barcelona’s (£515.3m) to go top of the list.

Barcelona eclipsed Real by nearly €60million after posting a figure of €679m in revenue which included player sales where the team from the capital was excluded in such income – as Deloitte do in their annual rich list.

Part of what spurred Madrid’s revenue was the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo’s merchandise and also had a successful outing at the Champions League winning their 11th trophy in the competition.

JTF Foils Kidnap Attempt, Arrests 5 Militant Suspects

Troops of the Joint Military Force (JTF) deployed to the Niger Delta Operation Delta Safe, have foiled a kidnap attempt, freed two victims and arrested five suspected militants in multiple operations, according to a statement.

The statement, signed by Lt.-Cdr. Thomas Otuji, Deputy Spokesman, JTF, issued on Friday in Yenagoa, stated that five suspected militants were arrested in the operations by several components of the force in the past 10 days.
Otuji attributed the successes recorded to distress calls from members of the public.

‘’Several illegal refineries were also destroyed during the operations. Troops immediately swung into action and rescued the victims.
“One Mrs Vanessa Ilepi and Mrs Tega Okoro were kidnapped at gunpoint at Amukpe community in Warri.
“Effort is ongoing to apprehend the suspected kidnappers who escaped.

‘’A locally made single barrel gun was recovered from the arrested suspected kidnapper,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, troops of Sector 1, Operation DELTA SAFE, have also raided and destroyed illegal refinery sites at Opumami and Okogho creeks in Warri, Otuji stated.

The spokesman stated that the operators of the illegal refinery abandoned the sites and fled on sighting the patrol boats.
He said that JTF members found and destroyed 16 cooking pots, two Cotonou boats filled with crude oil and four wooden shelters at the sites.
‘’Also one carton of 70 mm ammunition, three pumping machines, two deep freezers, one generator and a 55 Horse-power speed boat were found and destroyed at the site.’’

According to him, troops on Oct. 4, also discovered and destroyed illegal bunkering sites along Bille creek, Bonny Local Government Area in River during a routine patrol.

He said that special boat services had been deployed to degrade and fish out elements of Bakassi Strike Force militants tormenting innocent citizens at Bakassi and Akpabuyo Local Government Areas in Cross River.

“Meanwhile, troops of Sector 4 of Operation DELTA SAFE, while on patrol, apprehended two suspected militants who stole two high-powered boats with outboard engines from boat operators.

“They were about selling the engines at Aqua Beach when our troops arrested the suspects and handed them to the Nigeria Police for further action.’’
He further said that the troops had launched an operation at a hideout in Okon Mkpa Community of Efut Esighi, Bakassi Local Government Area of Cross River.

Otuji said that the operation was prompted by a tip-off indicating the presence of some militants in the area.
“Troops, in company of the special boat services, immediately raided the criminals’ hideouts and apprehended three suspected militants.

“The following items were recovered at the scene: a Toyota Camry vehicle belonging to one of the suspected militants, sentry duty rosters and 73 wraps of substance suspected to be Indian hemp.

‘’A book containing over 30 names of suspected militants’ nominal roll for the scheduled payment of allowances was also found in the car.
“Preliminary investigation to ascertain the names in the book has commenced,’’ he said. (NAN)

Ebonyi traders call for Jonathanas economy plunges deeper

Cries have been made for the return of Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan

– Traders within the Abakiliki main market in Ebonyi state have lamented the current state of affairs in the country

– The traders have reportedly resolved to retain the posters of Jonathan’s past posters as a sign of love for the ex-president

Following developments within the Nigerian economy, many Nigerians are dismayed and are looking for help from wherever it may come from.

The Punch reports that almost one and a half years after former President Goodluck  Jonathan left office, his 2015 campaign posters are still displayed in markets in Ebonyi State, including the over 70-year-old Abakaliki main market.

Speaking to our newsmen on Thursday, October 6, one of the traders, Celestine Chikodiri, said the traders resolved to retain the posters as a show of love for the former President.

He said: “We like the way Jonathan ruled us; his government was good, we like the Jonathan administration more than the present government and it is why we decided to leave the posters in the market because we are missing him.

“If you look around the market, you will not see campaign posters of any presidential candidate other than Jonathan’s own.

“The Jonathan administration will not be easily forgotten; things were moving smoothly, our businesses were flourishing, civil and public servants were patronising us,’’ he said.


Chikodiri described Jonathan as a true democrat for conceding defeat at the presidential election which he said was another reason the traders allowed his campaign posters to still remain in the market and called on politicians to emulate him.

Another trader in the market, Mrs Nwode Angelina, said the current hardship being experienced in the country had shown that Jonathan was a good ‘husband’ to the nation.

“Today, everybody has seen that he tried for the nation and I am not surprised that his campaign posters are still littering our market.”

Former President Goodluck Jonathan emerged star of the day at the just concluded Leadership Newspaper Awards.

While he emerged Person of the year alongside President Muhammadu Buhari and former chairman of Independent National electoral commission, Professor Attahiru Jega, he was equally well praised by each speaker at the two hour ceremony held in Abuja.

From the welcome address by publisher of the newspaper, Sam-Nda Isaiah to the chairman of the occasion, General (Rtd) Abdulsalam Abubarkar to the keynote speaker, Akwa Ibom state governor Emmanuel Udom, Mr Jonathan was heavily praised for conceding victory at the 2015 general elections.